IN Brief:
- Proposed thresholds cover schemes above 150 homes, 15,000m² of commercial or mixed-use floorspace, and buildings over 30 metres.
- Strategic mayors could call in qualifying applications, determine them directly, or direct refusal where statutory tests are satisfied.
- The government wants the main intervention and Mayoral Development Order powers operating from early 2027.
Major developments outside London could face a new layer of strategic planning intervention from early 2027 as the government prepares regulations giving mayors direct powers over applications considered important to growth, housing, and infrastructure delivery.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has opened a six-week consultation on the secondary legislation required to activate provisions in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026. The consultation covers mayoral intervention in planning applications, Mayoral Development Orders, and a Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy outside London.
The proposed national thresholds would bring a substantial part of the major-development pipeline within scope. Outside London, applications involving more than 150 homes, more than 15,000m² of commercial or mixed-use floorspace, or buildings above 30 metres would be treated as potentially strategically important under the proposed framework.
Local planning authorities would be required to consult the relevant mayor on qualifying applications. The mayor could then allow the local authority to continue, direct refusal where the statutory tests are satisfied, or call the application in and become the determining planning authority.
Called-in applications would still be handled through the statutory planning system rather than an informal executive decision. The mayor would have to determine the scheme in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicated otherwise, while applicants would retain established appeal rights and the Secretary of State would keep existing intervention powers.
The proposals also extend into infrastructure once a strategic authority has adopted its Spatial Development Strategy. The consultation identifies categories including onshore wind schemes between 50MW and 100MW, standalone battery-storage projects of at least 100MW, and specified electricity-network infrastructure.
For development teams, the practical change would be an additional strategic test alongside the local planning process. Schemes above the proposed thresholds may need to demonstrate not only compliance with local policy but also alignment with wider mayoral priorities on housing delivery, transport, infrastructure, growth corridors, and regional spatial planning.
That could alter planning strategy well before an application reaches committee. Developers of large housing, commercial, and mixed-use schemes may need to engage earlier with strategic authorities, particularly where projects have cross-boundary effects or depend on infrastructure that serves more than one local authority area.
The intervention tests proposed by government are intended to limit mayoral involvement to genuinely strategic cases. Factors would include the effect of a project on delivery of the relevant Spatial Development Strategy, its wider impact across the authority area, and whether there are sound planning reasons for intervention.
The same legislation also provides for Mayoral Development Orders, allowing mayors to grant planning permission for specified forms of development within defined areas without each project following the conventional application route. In principle, that gives strategic authorities a mechanism for accelerating selected forms of development where land use, infrastructure, and policy have already been settled at a broader scale.
A Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy would add a funding tool to the package. Outside London, the levy could be used to support major infrastructure required by regional development, adopting an approach already familiar in the capital.
Implementation will require more than legislative approval. Strategic authorities will need planning officers, case-management procedures, legal capability, standing orders, and systems for handling applications that local councils currently process themselves. The consultation anticipates that ongoing administration would largely be funded through existing resources, although authorities could operate discretionary pre-application services and related charges.
The government intends to move quickly. The consultation closes on 5 October, and ministers want the principal call-in and Mayoral Development Order powers in force in early 2027. Secondary legislation is expected to be laid before the end of this year if that timetable is maintained.
That leaves developers with a relatively short period to understand how strategic intervention will work in practice. Schemes entering the system during the next several months may reach determination after the new powers become active, particularly where applications are large, technically complex, or subject to lengthy negotiation.
The industry has spent years pressing for a faster and more predictable planning system. Giving mayors another route into major applications could accelerate strategically supported schemes, but it will also create another decision point for projects large enough to trigger the thresholds. Much will depend on whether the new powers are used selectively to resolve strategic issues or become another layer of procedure between consent and construction.
